Personnel for Nov. 3

John Diamond, executive director of external affairs for the University of Maine System, has received the Edward L. Bernays Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Maine Public Affairs Council to a single practitioner. Diamond has worked for 22 years at UMS, which is based in Bangor. Previously he was a news reporter working in radio and television. He also served in the Maine Legislature and is a member of the American Folk Festival’s board of directors. Diamond is also the board chairman of the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce. The Bernays Award, created in 1987, was named for Edward L. Bernays, who is recognized as the father of public relations.

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For the first time, Pen Bay Healthcare of Rockland has added a full-time physician recruiter to its staff. John Bragg of Owls Head began work in mid-October. Dr. Dana Goldsmith, vice president for medical affairs at Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport, said the position, director of physician recruitment, is a necessity for the midcoast and will help the hospital preserve access to care from both primary care doctors and specialists. “With the worsening physician shortages across Maine and the United States, the recruitment and retention of excellent physicians has become increasingly important in recent years,” said Goldsmith. Bragg is well known in the midcoast for his work as a real estate agent and his volunteer hours with groups including Rockland Rotary, Youthlinks (now Broadreach), the Rockland Little League and the Maine Association of Realtors. He has also served on Pen Bay Healthcare committees, including the community relations committee, where it was his job, among other things, to solicit comment from the community about how the organization is meeting its health care needs. Bragg is a native of Amherst, Mass. He has a degree from the University of Maine in Orono in resource economics. For the past 14 years he has worked as a real estate agent, most notably as owner of deRochemont Realtors in Rockland. Bragg and his wife, Susan, a music teacher at Hope Elementary School, have two children.